$126,000 to disappear in thin air

It's a lifetime opportunity for a would-be astronaut. But the price of a ticket for a proposed sub-orbital space flight, 100 kilometres above Earth and lasting no longer than your lunch break, could bankrupt you.

The proponents of a concept that would see ordinary tourists paying an "affordable" $US98,000 ($A126,000) to fly in pioneering craft to "space altitude" are considering Australia as the site for a space-port for the venture. And they insist their proposal has more substance than similar space-port-in-Australia proposals that, over the years, have disappeared into a black hole of promises.

US-based Space Adventures is the company, which, with Russia's funds-strapped space program, sent the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito, on a $US20 million flight in 2001.

Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures, said that he and Sergey Kostenko, chairman of Russian aerospace firm C21, would begin their search for a suitable Australian space-port site where sub-orbital, reusable spacecraft would be based.

He and Mr Kostenko intend to approach state governments and private investors to gauge support for the idea of a tourist-based space-port in Australia.

The flights, in miniature space shuttle-type craft carrying a pilot and two passengers, will provide an astronaut's view of Earth as well as a zero-gravity experience.

Mr Anderson said Space Adventures had taken millions of dollars in deposits for the flights, and two Australians were already on the waiting list.